eyewannacruz4eva

I think its all how you look at it. If you haven't kept up with television, Lip Synching is the latest craze. Several shows featuring lip synching with even celebrities joining in. Then your local hot spots and bars have now Karaoke and/or lip synching featured. A lot of folks enjoy these activities and get pretty creative with it. It becomes very enjoyable to participate and view. It may indeed be a way for Carnival to save money, but I do believe it is an activity that if done correctly can be very enjoyable. When Carnival introduced Dive-In Movies, I at first said who is paying money to take a cruise to watch a previously run movie. Every Carnival cruise I have been on since they introduced Dive-In movies, the lounge chairs are completely full, the popcorn line is long and even on the colder nights people will lay up with a towel or blanket and enjoy the movie. I myself try to work the movies into my schedule as well. Yes I enjoy the shows with the dancers and singers, but if you have been cruising for awhile you realize even these can become a little cheesy or overly familiar. Now bringing folks like Tim McGraw and Kerry Underwood, Jay Leno and the likes is definitely an added bonus. I have yet to be able to participate because every cruise I book with the professional stars has been sold out. Yet everyone tells me it is amazing. So in my opinion, I say variety is the spice of life and don't let a change in activity ruin what could still potentially be a lovely experience especially when you see the ridiculously low prices you get for a Carnival Cruise. I mean really, I am a world traveler with recently flying to Japan, Italy and Dubai and let me tell you a Carnival cruise is a drop in the bucket. During Spring Break in April, we flew to Florida, rented a car, booked a hotel and purchased a three day pass to Universal Studios. Let me tell you for a family of 3, without even getting in any food, our three day amusement park ticket was $215 per person. That's just to walk in the door of the park. Parking each day at the park was $20. We still haven't even had a soda, popcorn or lunch. We have to purchase on top of that 3 meals a day, hotel, rental car, etc. You get my point. For a measely few hundred dollars, Carnival is giving you transportation on the ocean to various islands and countries that you can visit without paying extra if you just choose to walk around or taxi it to the beach, hotel room, unlimited dining experiences at multiple places on board, entertainment throughout the day where guest can get involved or just watch, dive-in movies, broadway type shows and all of this is inclusive in the price. If you then want to go above and beyond the menial price of the cruise, you can pay for spa treatment, liquor, casino, Upscale dining lite the Steak Houses on board, etc., etc. I mean really, I went to Cozumel and Key West for $179 for 5 days and 4 nights. I went to Nassau and Freeport for 4 days/3nights for $249. I went to Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Grand Cayman for $569 6 days/5 nights. I went to Ensenada, Mexico for $80 on Carnival Imagination (no lies) 3 days/2 nights. I could go on and on about my 11 cruises with the most expensive one being $569 per person. I'm about to take my son on the Liberty 4 days/3 nights with a nice cabin on Lido deck for $329 per person. So I say cheer up, when people say you get what you pay for, that is not true with a cruise. You get so much more than you pay for. Please tell me where I can pay $329 on a land vacation and get everything included, hotel, unlimited food and entertainment for 3 full days. Unheard of. Just to get into Disney is $100 before you do anything else. So don't let the new lip synch showcase get you down. I am so hoping it is on the Liberty next month.

(y) Great positive post and very true!!! I go to Disney world every year for the Food and Wine festival in the fall and I certainly spend a lot more money on just the hotel and tickets than any cruise I've taken with Carnival. And gotta pay Disney prices for everything since we stay on property.

Wonder if you can buy cheers 3 or 4 days into a 7 night cruise? If I think cheers will be a better deal a few days in can I still sign up?

Nah, has to be entire cruise.

The convenience alone is worth Cheers for us. We do like to drink throughout the day (on a cruise....we don't do this at home, but on vacation...go baby go), so no matter where we are, we are able to just waltz up to a bar and get something to our liking....including just a coke, or a pineapple juice. Nice not to think about it, worry about overspending, or having concerns of the price of a top-shelf liquor.

 

It is expensive, and I would never recommend it to someone who may have 1-2 drinks a day, but if you like to have a few.....definitely worth it for the convenience if nothing else.

I agree!! And as you stated when we're on vacay, I enjoy my adult libations!

Is drinking worth $100 per day plus tips for the both of you?

For me it's worth it, not so much for Mr. Frugal 😊. We've cruised with and without the package and i definitely prefer the package. He just wants to save every penny he can

I believe you can only bring one bottle of wine per adult in the cabin on the cruise. What you purchase (bottles) on the ship or in port isn't even available to you until the last night and must be brought off the ship still sealed. SO, there isn't any way around the drinking package by thinking you can buy a bottle of Vodka and go back to the room for refills. Just the two bottles of wine (which can go fast on a cruise for two people)!

 

 

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I was referring to ordering online from the funshop, that way it will be waiting in the room when we arrive sorry i wasn't clear

So hubby wants bring our alotted amount of wine on board and purchase a bottle or 2 of Vodka and mixers to have in the room..... I hate the idea of having to go back to the room for refills, so I wanna just get the drink package... Mr. Frugal doesn't wanna spend the extra money on the package thoughts?

I've cruised with Royal, Celebrity and of course Carnival.... with that said I love Royal's beautiful larger ships, Celebrity wasn't my speed as it seemed to cater to a much older crowd at the time anyway. But I certainly don't hate/dislike either cruise line. I will be on Carnival next month out of Baltimore, our daughter graduates from High school this month and asked for a family cruise as a graduation gift. I'm sure we will see everything the OP described, just as I've seen on the other Cruise lines as well. your appearance, your weight, your appetite is just that "YOURS" I don't care at all just don't affect my vacation and we're good. As for the walmart reference, It's funny I always tell my husband "I never see the people of walmart when I go" :') ..... and it's probably because just like cruising I don't care about your appearance, weight etc....my family and I always dress appropriately for dinner, that's just who we are. Everyone doesn't feel the same way and that's ok.

To the OP, I hope your future cruises with whatever line you choose are more favorable in clientele for you. We did the Greek Isles on a private yacht (not ours we were guests) try that and you'll never worry or care about clientele again:D

47 days until I'm filled with 'Pride' :D

It is such a beautiful island! We have been twice and it is by far one of our favorite places to visit. It is a very small, laid back island. The first time we took a cab to the "downtown" area and went through a small museum they had and then went to "The Sandbar" restaurant. It is a covered deck that has about 6 tables and is right on the beach. We hung out there for several hours. We had lunch and drinks and in between we would go out to the beach and hang out at the waters edge.

 

The last time we were there we reserved a golf cart and toured the island on our own. We went to the light house and enjoyed the views there and then ended up back at the Sandbar for lunch and drinks again. It is so relaxing to sit on their deck and just enjoy the breathtaking views and listen to the waves.

OMG!!!! this sounds great I'm gonna check into the golf cart rental! where did you rent the golf cart?

We will be in Grand Turk on June 14th, arriving at 8am and departing at 2:30pm. We're not early birds when on vacation and since this seems like such a short time to be there, wondering if we should do anything at all. Maybe just go to Maragritaville and hang out for a couple hours....thoughts?

So disappointed that they were sold out before I even knew about getting a cabana 🙁

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1,584 hours:)